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Saturday, October 14, 2006, 8:00 PM
Thursday, October 19, 2006, 8:00 PM
Friday, October 20, 2006, 8:00 PM
Saturday, October 21, 2006, 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM (10:00 PM is “sing-along”)
Sunday, October 22, 2006, 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM (7:00 PM is “sing-along”)
Thursday, October 26, 2006, 8:00 PM
Friday, October 27, 2006, 8:00 PM
Saturday, October 28, 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM (10:00 PM is “sing-along”)
Sunday, October 29, 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM
Theatre on San Pedro Square, 29 North San Pedro Street, San Jose
Tickets range from $18 to $22
with special reserved table seating available for $25.
Tickets may be purchased by telephone toll-free at (800) 838-3006
or by visiting Studio Theatre of California’s website at www.stoc.org.
Credit cards are accepted for telephone and on-line orders,
which are handled through Brown Paper Tickets.
For the “sing-along” performances, the audience will be invited to sing along on some of the songs during the performance. Lyric sheets will be made available for the selected
songs. In addition, there will be an after-show “by request” sing-along. The sing-along performances also have a special ticket price of $15 for all seats (no reserved tables).
More information and online ticket sales at
http://www.openstage.org/
TOMFOOLERY is a hilarious revue based on mathematics professor Tom Lehrer's satirical words and music written in the 1950s and 1960s and performed at countless sold-out concerts around the world.
You may (we hope) find this show offensive if you are a thin-skinned Boy Scout, bird lover, Southerner, inhabitant of a small town, Harvard graduate, folk singer, senior citizen, German
rocket scientist, Marine, capitalist, hunter, Riverdance fan, math professor, movie star, politician (or movie star politician), anti-drug crusader, white person, black person, rich person, poor person, New Yorker,
Puerto Rican, Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, or Jew ... or if you love your mother. Or if you merely have good taste. In the words of the opening song, "Be Prepared" ... to
laugh!
Hardly politically correct, and still amazingly relevant after all these years, songs like Send The Marines, National Brotherhood Week, Poisoning Pigeons In The Park, The
Masochism Tango, and The Vatican Rag will leave you in convulsions. (No medical insurance provided.)
TOMFOOLERY ROMPS INTO SAN JOSE ON OCTOBER 14th
Studio Theatre of California (STOC), in association with Stagelight Productions, will present Tomfoolery, a madcap dash through the music and words hatched by the slightly
off-center mind of satirical songwriter and former UC Santa Cruz instructor Tom Lehrer, in a three-week run at Theatre on San Pedro Square, 29 North San Pedro Street, San Jose, opening Saturday, October 14,
2006. The production features the talents of Doug Brook, David Curley, Dan Galpin, Becky Wallace and Ashley Bening, and with a special guest appearance by Brad Bening.
It is directed by Jonathan Rosen, with choreography by San Francisco comedic dance veteran Dudley Brooks, and music direction by Kevin Cormier.
Performances continue through October 29, 2006, on Thursday and Friday at 8:00 PM, two shows each Saturday at 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM (except opening night, which, as noted above, has a
single performance at 8:00 PM), and Sunday at 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM.
Tickets range from $18 to $22, with special reserved table seating available for $25. Tickets may be purchased by telephone toll-free at (800) 838-3006 or by visiting STOC’s website at
www.stoc.org. Credit cards are accepted for telephone and on-line orders, which are handled through Brown Paper Tickets.
Three “sing-along” performances will be offered on Saturday, October 21 and 28, at 10:00 PM, and on Sunday, October 22 at 7:00 PM. For these shows, the audience will be invited to
sing along on some of the songs during the performance.
Lyric sheets will be made available for the selected songs. In addition, there will be an after-show “by request” sing-along. The sing-along performances also have a special ticket price of $15 for all seats (no reserved tables).
Talking about the show, director Jonathan Rosen said, “In this sixth year of the new millennium, issues such as America’s increased militarism, global warming, clergy improprieties,
struggles in relationships, and pornography on the Internet prove that Tom Lehrer’s music is just as relevant today as it was half a century ago when he wrote it.
Consider the subjects of many of Lehrer’s songs: the United States’ invasion of the Dominican Republic (Send the Marines), the Second Ecumenical Council (The Vatican Rag) and the rise of eccentric bedroom behavior (The
Masochism Tango), all very serious issues in the 1950s and 1960s.
It seems the more things change, the more they remain the same. This is an exciting opportunity to present the work of one of the most off-beat musical humorists of the 20th century!”
Adapted for the stage by the team of Robin Ray and Cameron Mackintosh (who went on to produce many hit musicals including Cats, Miss Saigon, and Phantom Of The Opera), Tomfoolery makes hilarious references to many political and social themes which remain timeless, such as war, racial tension, religious intolerance, pollution, and sex. Mr. Lehrer, in his own words, “has had a long and varied career in the field of entertainment starting with nine years at Harvard University, where it was that he first decided to devote his life to what has since become a rather successful scientific project, namely the attempt to prolong adolescence beyond all previous limits.”
Tom Lehrer started writing and performing his songs while in college in the late 1940s, followed by several recordings released in the 1950s. Many of his songs, including National
Brotherhood Week and The Vatican Rag, appeared on That Was The Week That Was, a 1960s television news parody which was a precursor to Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live and Comedy
Central’s The Daily Show.
In the late 1960s, with three records and countless concert appearances under his belt, he stopped writing and performing publicly, because, as he put it, “satire became obsolete when
Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.” When asked to write a song about President Richard Nixon, he declined, claiming “that is rather like asking a resident of Pompeii for some humorous comments on
lava.”
In the early 1970’s, attracted by the balmy weather of Northern California, he took up residence at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where until his recent retirement he lectured
on a variety of practical subjects such as infinity and the history of musical theater. He continues to make his retreat to Santa Cruz from the frigid Cambridge winters every year.
In 1980, British stage producer Mackintosh approached Mr. Lehrer with the idea of converting his music into a revue, and the rest is history.
Tom Lehrer is fond of saying that “the combined profits of Tomfoolery and Cats made Cameron a wealthy man.” While hardly politically correct, the show rarely fails to leave its audiences laughing, or at least wincing, hysterically.
Tomfoolery features well-known local musical theatre actor David Curley (appearing through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity) who was most recently seen as Nathan Detroit in Cabrillo Stage’s summer production Guys and Dolls.
Mr. Curley also received critical acclaim playing leads in other local shows, including San Jose Repertory Theatre’s premiere musical The Haunting of Winchester, Theatreworks’ production of Batboy, Foothill Music Theatre‘s Urinetown,
and Bus Barn Theatre’s John and Jen. Dan Galpin, who will immediately precede this production in September as Papageno in Misson City Opera’s production of The Magic Flute, is recreating the role
he performed in OpenStage Repertory Theater’s 2001 sold-out production of Tomfoolery in Santa Cruz. Becky Wallace, who recently appeared as Pegeen Ryan in West Valley Light Opera’s production of Mame,
Ashley Bening, a recent graduate of UC Irvine’s musical theater department and frequent performer with San Jose Children’s Musical Theater, and Doug Brook round out the cast.
This production is made possible through a new joint program sponsored by Theatre On San Pedro Square and the San Jose City Redevelopment Agency.
Under this program, the Theatre On San Pedro Square is being made available to local non-profit arts organizations at no cost for limited performance productions six months out of every year through 2010. Tomfoolery is one of the first productions to be presented under this exciting new program.
Studio Theatre of California is a non-profit theater company focused on presenting reasonably-priced quality theatrical productions in the South Bay area. For more information or
ticket reservations, please call toll-free (800) 838-3006 or visit www.stoc.org.
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